One of the problems is I try to blog the way I would twitter. That has ended. From now on I will blog less frequently, but more regularly.
We'll see if that works. I may also consider changing to wordpress, and that does not appear to be owned by google. And I'm a bit afraid of google.
30.6.10
5.11.09
~Ordnungsnazis
One thing that surprises me about Germany (though I'm not sure why, considering the right-bent of the government) is the really obvious police presence. I suppose it's less so in the suburbs, and I don't spend as much time in the city in Adelaide as I do here, but I still feel like there are more police on the beat here than at home.
In addition to police, paid for by the state, the city Heidelberg employs six extra "Ordnungsdienst" guards. I'm not kidding when I say they're pretty much a litter-nazi outfit.
The upshoot of this is that I don't feel safer as a result of all this extra security presence. Mostly I feel scared that I'll get a stupid fine for a stupid misdemeanor- things like crossing a red light on foot, cycling in the pedestrian zone and so on. Case in point: I was riding my bike next to my friend along the Hauptstraße, which is actually a pedestrian zone. It was 2040 on a Thursday, she was on foot, and I was going at her (slow) walking pace. Metres in front of her door we were stopped and I was given a E10 fine by a very friendly policeman going to Australia on holidays next year.
Maybe it's my point of view. Maybe Heidelberg has lots of old ladies and people with things where the sun doesn't shine, who genuinely do feel safer when E10 fines are handed out for such small stupid things. But for me, an increased police presence does not make me feel safer, it just makes me nervous.
In addition to police, paid for by the state, the city Heidelberg employs six extra "Ordnungsdienst" guards. I'm not kidding when I say they're pretty much a litter-nazi outfit.
The upshoot of this is that I don't feel safer as a result of all this extra security presence. Mostly I feel scared that I'll get a stupid fine for a stupid misdemeanor- things like crossing a red light on foot, cycling in the pedestrian zone and so on. Case in point: I was riding my bike next to my friend along the Hauptstraße, which is actually a pedestrian zone. It was 2040 on a Thursday, she was on foot, and I was going at her (slow) walking pace. Metres in front of her door we were stopped and I was given a E10 fine by a very friendly policeman going to Australia on holidays next year.
Maybe it's my point of view. Maybe Heidelberg has lots of old ladies and people with things where the sun doesn't shine, who genuinely do feel safer when E10 fines are handed out for such small stupid things. But for me, an increased police presence does not make me feel safer, it just makes me nervous.
28.10.09
~(backdated)
Those of you who follow me should be aware that I'm updating with backdated posts. This means I'm finally catching up on Sweden and Spain, but to avoid temporal confusion, it's all dated with the day it happened. To stay abreast you'll need to scroll backwards to get to posts with "backdated" in their title. They're all new since recently.
27.10.09
~Konstanz
Konstanz is beautiful. I mean, I'd been there before, but in summer it's very hazy and you can't see the alps over the lake. When I arrived at 5pm, the conditions were just perfect. It looked like they were just a few minutes' swim away, and I nearly jumped in!
After viewing the alps, Ben and I took a meander through the old city heading for a busstop to his place. But by the time we got to one, it was hardly worth going home before we had to be at this party. So we decided on a beer. A beer turned into an illegal roof-top adventure with Tom, an old Saints boy, and the girl whose bathroom window we had to pass through to get up there.
Fortunately, the party we were aiming for was just one flight of stairs down, and so we were punctual. Beer and wine on arrival, with the delicious smells of Spanish tortilla and Hungarian pancakes. All in all, a great evening. Much alcohol was drunk, delicious food was eaten, and the music wasn't terrible. Maris turned out to be a very helpful dance partner, and I had a lot of fun.
The party was still going when we left to another, another storey down. This was in Maris's flat, though she hardly knew anyone there. After a while they all went to the club, and Ben and she and I sat and chatted for a while before walking home.
The next day was the first day of wintertime, and we thought we'd got up late, but in fact had got up earlier than planned. After a leisurely breakfast we went for a hike through the woods towards Konstanz's interestingly ugly university. And what I find best about it is: they continue to build in the same style and in the same jumbled layout, even though they must realise how much the students hate it.
Discovering no buses ran on Sundays (I hate Germany sometimes) we walked back to town where we met the same guys who had come to HD on Ben's most recent adventure. After a delicious coffee and cake arrangement, we all headed for Switzerland. I didn't have my passport on me, but we weren't stopped at the border, and so there I was, with a new country under my belt.
Ben and I were left alone at this point, and we wandered through the town, past the harbour, in to the gardens and then back along the lake to the "Landesgrenze", where I took the obligatory stupid photos. Then it was time to wander home, eventually to cook pizza with Jesus, the Spaniard from the party the night before.
But he never came, so I ended up cooking with Ben and his very friendly flatmate Janina. We had a jolly evening watching Youtube, listening to Konstanz's local music scene and eating the freshly baked pizza on home-made dough.
On Monday morning I just went with Ben to the busstop but while he went on to uni, I caught it into town and trained home.
After viewing the alps, Ben and I took a meander through the old city heading for a busstop to his place. But by the time we got to one, it was hardly worth going home before we had to be at this party. So we decided on a beer. A beer turned into an illegal roof-top adventure with Tom, an old Saints boy, and the girl whose bathroom window we had to pass through to get up there.
Fortunately, the party we were aiming for was just one flight of stairs down, and so we were punctual. Beer and wine on arrival, with the delicious smells of Spanish tortilla and Hungarian pancakes. All in all, a great evening. Much alcohol was drunk, delicious food was eaten, and the music wasn't terrible. Maris turned out to be a very helpful dance partner, and I had a lot of fun.
The party was still going when we left to another, another storey down. This was in Maris's flat, though she hardly knew anyone there. After a while they all went to the club, and Ben and she and I sat and chatted for a while before walking home.
The next day was the first day of wintertime, and we thought we'd got up late, but in fact had got up earlier than planned. After a leisurely breakfast we went for a hike through the woods towards Konstanz's interestingly ugly university. And what I find best about it is: they continue to build in the same style and in the same jumbled layout, even though they must realise how much the students hate it.
Discovering no buses ran on Sundays (I hate Germany sometimes) we walked back to town where we met the same guys who had come to HD on Ben's most recent adventure. After a delicious coffee and cake arrangement, we all headed for Switzerland. I didn't have my passport on me, but we weren't stopped at the border, and so there I was, with a new country under my belt.
Ben and I were left alone at this point, and we wandered through the town, past the harbour, in to the gardens and then back along the lake to the "Landesgrenze", where I took the obligatory stupid photos. Then it was time to wander home, eventually to cook pizza with Jesus, the Spaniard from the party the night before.
But he never came, so I ended up cooking with Ben and his very friendly flatmate Janina. We had a jolly evening watching Youtube, listening to Konstanz's local music scene and eating the freshly baked pizza on home-made dough.
On Monday morning I just went with Ben to the busstop but while he went on to uni, I caught it into town and trained home.
26.10.09
~Taschenbilliard
An apparently reasonably famous band from Kassel in central Germany, playing at a benefit concert for the German Child Protection Association, because the bass player is a cousin of one of the other band's singer/guitarist.
At about 1702 Friday evening I left the house. At 1712 I arrived at the train station and, trying to call my friends to find out where they were, tell them to buy my ticket and hold the train doors for me, I discovered I'd left the mobile at home. No time to go back! I pushed on, found them anyway, and at 1718 we were on our way to Pforzheim.
I was firstly mightily embarrassed not to recognise Viola, Luci or Anja, who, along with Theresa and Frido were coming down to see the bands. We were basically Matze's groupies. But we got over it soon enough and the hour was over before you knew it. We did develop some very interesting theories about the numbering of platforms in Germany- from Harry-Potter-style secret platforms to a massive misprint at the platform-number-sign-factory.
Upon arrival we found the Kupferdächle by ignoring Matze's instructions completely, and having stowed our stuff, adjourned to the bar for a beer and pizza while the band warmed up. They'd been stuck in traffic all the way there and hadn't yet sound-tested :S
Then it started. We danced like mad things trying to get others to join in, but everyone was keeping to their group- each band had its own set of people, and they all stuck together. But we danced like mad things, cat-called, threw wet bras, and generally had an awesome time.
Between bands a local dance group, the apparent leader of which had a... questionable girlfriend, impressed us all with their moves.
The second band, as far as I recall, was a local act, a good one. The girl could sing. They played some of my favourite tunes from the 90's and lately. They're a cover band, and a reasonable one at that. brightsidecovermusic.de if you're interested. We danced like mad things, because it really was a disco in there.
More of the local dancers, and then the main attraction: Taschenbilliard. As far as I can gather, a popular band in north and west Germany, though Pforzheim was by far the farthest south they'd ever played. They weren't so popular that it had got to them: they were still studying things like med and Germanistics, and as I will tell after, they are great guys.
Everyone else, almost, left, and when they asked the 15 remaining on-lookers who was from Pforzheim, only two put up their hands. It was a great moment. Except for 'Geklaut' and another I forget, they played all original music, and are working on a second album to appear early next year. We danced like mad things, because they were good, because it was Matze's cousin and because we felt sorry for them a bit.
The lights eventually went on, and I was so tired. "What time is it?"
"Not even midnight."
"WHAT?!"
We cleaned up, went back to the kindy which would be our accommodation that night, and were about to crash. But the band wanted to go out. So after a coffee, we headed out to the town, heading for an Irish Pub found on the iPhone. It was so much fun. They're great kids, and after a beer or two and some vodka, told some racy jokes. But the best was yet to come.
After eventually getting back home, we sat around a bit more and finished off the beer and Jaegermeister which had been provided for the evening. Then it got serious: the toy cars came out, the slippery-dip, the rocking horse and the zebra all made appearances.
Seeing mature students of medicine and law, drunk and racing tricycles and little red cars with squeaky horns is a hilarious thing. Then again, maybe you had to be there.
At 5am we went to sleep. But they flashmobbed us before they went to bed too.
At about 1702 Friday evening I left the house. At 1712 I arrived at the train station and, trying to call my friends to find out where they were, tell them to buy my ticket and hold the train doors for me, I discovered I'd left the mobile at home. No time to go back! I pushed on, found them anyway, and at 1718 we were on our way to Pforzheim.
I was firstly mightily embarrassed not to recognise Viola, Luci or Anja, who, along with Theresa and Frido were coming down to see the bands. We were basically Matze's groupies. But we got over it soon enough and the hour was over before you knew it. We did develop some very interesting theories about the numbering of platforms in Germany- from Harry-Potter-style secret platforms to a massive misprint at the platform-number-sign-factory.
Upon arrival we found the Kupferdächle by ignoring Matze's instructions completely, and having stowed our stuff, adjourned to the bar for a beer and pizza while the band warmed up. They'd been stuck in traffic all the way there and hadn't yet sound-tested :S
Then it started. We danced like mad things trying to get others to join in, but everyone was keeping to their group- each band had its own set of people, and they all stuck together. But we danced like mad things, cat-called, threw wet bras, and generally had an awesome time.
Between bands a local dance group, the apparent leader of which had a... questionable girlfriend, impressed us all with their moves.
The second band, as far as I recall, was a local act, a good one. The girl could sing. They played some of my favourite tunes from the 90's and lately. They're a cover band, and a reasonable one at that. brightsidecovermusic.de if you're interested. We danced like mad things, because it really was a disco in there.
More of the local dancers, and then the main attraction: Taschenbilliard. As far as I can gather, a popular band in north and west Germany, though Pforzheim was by far the farthest south they'd ever played. They weren't so popular that it had got to them: they were still studying things like med and Germanistics, and as I will tell after, they are great guys.
Everyone else, almost, left, and when they asked the 15 remaining on-lookers who was from Pforzheim, only two put up their hands. It was a great moment. Except for 'Geklaut' and another I forget, they played all original music, and are working on a second album to appear early next year. We danced like mad things, because they were good, because it was Matze's cousin and because we felt sorry for them a bit.
The lights eventually went on, and I was so tired. "What time is it?"
"Not even midnight."
"WHAT?!"
We cleaned up, went back to the kindy which would be our accommodation that night, and were about to crash. But the band wanted to go out. So after a coffee, we headed out to the town, heading for an Irish Pub found on the iPhone. It was so much fun. They're great kids, and after a beer or two and some vodka, told some racy jokes. But the best was yet to come.
After eventually getting back home, we sat around a bit more and finished off the beer and Jaegermeister which had been provided for the evening. Then it got serious: the toy cars came out, the slippery-dip, the rocking horse and the zebra all made appearances.
Seeing mature students of medicine and law, drunk and racing tricycles and little red cars with squeaky horns is a hilarious thing. Then again, maybe you had to be there.
At 5am we went to sleep. But they flashmobbed us before they went to bed too.
20.10.09
~Really?
Dec 1 Uni all day.
Dec 2 Uni in the morning, fly to Krakow in the afternoon.
Dec 3 Hang out in Krakow
Dec 4 Hang out in Krakow
Dec 5 Hang out in Krakow
Dec 6 Hang out in Krakow
Dec 7 Fly back to HD
Dec 8 Uni all day.
Dec 9 Uni in the morning, night train to Copenhagen.
Dec 10 Go to conferences in Copenhagen
Dec 11 Go to conferences in Copenhagen
Dec 12 Go to conferences in Copenhagen
Dec 13 Return to HD
Dec 14
Dec 15 Fly to Uppsala
Dec 16 Hang out in Uppsala
Dec 17 Hang out in Uppsala
Dec 18 Fly home to HD
Dec 19
Dec 20
Dec 21
Dec 22 Uni all day.
Dec 23 Uni in the morning, last day before Xmas holidays.
Dec 2 Uni in the morning, fly to Krakow in the afternoon.
Dec 3 Hang out in Krakow
Dec 4 Hang out in Krakow
Dec 5 Hang out in Krakow
Dec 6 Hang out in Krakow
Dec 7 Fly back to HD
Dec 8 Uni all day.
Dec 9 Uni in the morning, night train to Copenhagen.
Dec 10 Go to conferences in Copenhagen
Dec 11 Go to conferences in Copenhagen
Dec 12 Go to conferences in Copenhagen
Dec 13 Return to HD
Dec 14
Dec 15 Fly to Uppsala
Dec 16 Hang out in Uppsala
Dec 17 Hang out in Uppsala
Dec 18 Fly home to HD
Dec 19
Dec 20
Dec 21
Dec 22 Uni all day.
Dec 23 Uni in the morning, last day before Xmas holidays.
18.10.09
~Pforzheim with Thomas
I had intended to go on the Saturday, but ended up for reasons of sleep rather later than intended on the Sunday.
Thomas picked me up at the train station and we wandered around the old town for a while. Now, Pforzheim was bombed to the ground in the war- something like 90% of buildings were destroyed. As a result, the inner city is not as pretty as you might hope. Large, quickly-built blocks of concrete dominate. Nonetheless, the pedestrian mall is quite attractive (at least it would be in summer) while some newer buildings, especially public ones- the library, for instance- are jewels.
Apparently as usual in Germany, the weather was terrible- grey and cold, and as we were in the gardens, discovering the Küpferdächele where I would return next week, it began to rain. Since all the churches were closed (not even a mass happening in any of them) we were lucky to stumble upon quite an interesting- as it turned out- art exhibition in some old warehouse building. I was at first not super keen, but I talked myself into it, and the pictures really were interesting and worth a look.
In due course Thomas's hosts (his brother and his wife) arrived home again and we went to their apartment where they proved wonderful hosts, also to me. The five of us- the Clevers have a beautiful little child- went to Pforzheim's nature park and I had a ball feeding the animals. The baby was mostly just scared of them. I was invited back to dinner before the very kindly drove me to the train station where I caught the train home.
All in all, a successful Sonntagsausflug (Sunday excursion).
Thomas picked me up at the train station and we wandered around the old town for a while. Now, Pforzheim was bombed to the ground in the war- something like 90% of buildings were destroyed. As a result, the inner city is not as pretty as you might hope. Large, quickly-built blocks of concrete dominate. Nonetheless, the pedestrian mall is quite attractive (at least it would be in summer) while some newer buildings, especially public ones- the library, for instance- are jewels.
Apparently as usual in Germany, the weather was terrible- grey and cold, and as we were in the gardens, discovering the Küpferdächele where I would return next week, it began to rain. Since all the churches were closed (not even a mass happening in any of them) we were lucky to stumble upon quite an interesting- as it turned out- art exhibition in some old warehouse building. I was at first not super keen, but I talked myself into it, and the pictures really were interesting and worth a look.
In due course Thomas's hosts (his brother and his wife) arrived home again and we went to their apartment where they proved wonderful hosts, also to me. The five of us- the Clevers have a beautiful little child- went to Pforzheim's nature park and I had a ball feeding the animals. The baby was mostly just scared of them. I was invited back to dinner before the very kindly drove me to the train station where I caught the train home.
All in all, a successful Sonntagsausflug (Sunday excursion).
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